Danganronpa: Hope For a New Dawn
by Death Kitsune II
Summary: When one young lady is put into lockdown with fifteen other high school students, all with special abilities and talents, it's up to fate whether one, few, many, all or none can make it out of the nightmare alive. With death at every corner and a new Mastermind calling the shots around this new game, Yui Oichi must find a way to break the cycle and find a way back to normality.
1. Prologue: A School For the Gifted?

… _In the end, it is known that our time will, one day, end- death comes assured the day you are freed from the womb. As our time gently floats by on a paper boat, we begin to realize that perhaps the stones and currents that we are occasionally damaged by are not the enemy. Perhaps if we tried to cherish that time and right the boat instead of foolishly trying to destroy stones or make currents flat… and, most of all, to let the boats of other people float by…_

…

"Hope's Peak…?"

I had opened my inbox that morning, having felt a bit under the weather earlier due to a headache. My heart jumped up to my throat as I skimmed over the e-mail, barely reading due to a huge amount of excitement and anticipation. I… had been accepted into the private academy I had applied for. For months, I had looked over the pictures of the lavish school and campus, wishing with all my might that maybe I could be there and not here. I reread the message, more clearly this time

_Congratulations, __**Yui Oichi**__! I am pleased to tell you that you have been accepted into the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy. As you know, we here at Hope's Peak only accept students that absolutely excel in a certain field, whether that field is academics, athletics, or other miscellaneous talents. We have chosen only sixteen students in Japan to attend a semester here at Hope's Peak, with all housing and meals being provided free of charge._

_- Headmaster Takei_

…. I couldn't believe what I was reading. Were my eyes lying to me? Despite so many tries to get into private schools and getting turned down, the pickiest one of all was going to let me in! My mother was going to be so happy when she heard about this. I didn't care at all about the cheesy font or the fact that my name had been plastered in, or even that the note wasn't signed at all!

I had been… accepted! I immediately called my mother and older sister, Kazumi, inside my room from downstairs. Never mind that I was still in my pink nightgown! It was time to celebrate! I absolutely beamed at the look of shock, and then pride on my mother's face, and Kazumi's look of hideous jealousy. I was going to come out on top for once in my life!

I smiled softly, as they left me to be prideful in myself. Curling up in my bed sheets, I felt as if I could just lie in my fluffy bed all day until I had to go to my newest school, here. After moving, I thought that everything would be so difficult. Perhaps, thankfully, I was wrong.

Wait… what date had they wanted me to begin attending? I took another look another look at the concise message, looking closer to the bottom.

March? March 18th? As in, tomorrow, March 18th?

"M-mother! Please, I have to start packing _right now_!"

…

One day passed, very slowly. I had been antsy, pacing through my room and muttering giddily to myself- I must have seemed pretty silly-looking if Kazumi walked in. I put on my old school uniform- a cute, black and white uniform with a rosy red bow in the center, and hurriedly pulled on a pink cardigan, just as a little good luck charm for the brand-new semester. Combing through my honey-brown hair, I made a desperate attempt to get it into something mildly resembling a ponytail using a red ribbon, before shoving in a few hairclips to keep my bangs where they were supposed to be. I was a little scared- Kawashima High School had been a girls' only school- were things going to be all that different in a co-ed academy? And, I had never been at the top of any class, even when I was younger- was everyone going to be an elitist snob? Would there be no one at all to make friends with?

But, nevertheless, excitement and anticipation outweighed any apprehension or uneasiness I had about Hope's Peak. Even my sister was starting to lighten up just a bit, giving me a halfhearted "congratulations" as I finished my toast and jam. My mother was nearly in happy tears- she was always the clingy, overprotective kind of mom who smothered their kids- but, I didn't mind that much. I kind of needed her, since my father was pretty much an empty shell of a businessman, working day in and day out.

I hugged my mother goodbye, and said farewell to my sister and the family cat, Mikuru, before leaving. The train would arrive at 8 AM on the dot- no sooner or later than that.

Running and wiping off the jam stain left on my cheek, I made my way down to the station- this was going to be a new dawn for me!

…

As the train pulled up, one of the doors slid open- I stepped inside with a skip in my feet, immediately taking a seat. I saw many faces… everyone looked to be a high-school student. But, yet… they were all sort of like snowflakes. No two of the faces looked all too much alike, especially not to my own. I earned a snootily upturned nose from a rather lovely looking female, her legs gently crossed and her hands neatly folded in her lap.

I had not even said a thing, and she already seemed to hate me… geez. For a girl who looked so proper, she already came off as not very nice.

"Did you perhaps pick out your clothing in the dark? Or from the dumpster behind your oh-so-very-humble abode?" she asked.

"Th-this… it's my… school uniform…" I answered, a bit flabbergasted at her rudeness. "Uh, my name is Yui Oichi, I was hoping that perhaps we could be frie—"

"I am the one called Rin Oshiro, but you may refer to me as either 'Miss', 'Milady' or 'M'am'." she said. "My title is Super High-School Level Heartthrob. I didn't see any 'Oichi' on the message that was sent to me. Are you perhaps a freeloader?"

"W-what the hell? What did I do this time?" I asked, a bit at a loss.

"Hmph… just kidding." she replied. I narrowed my eyes in discontent- this person and I weren't going to be friends anytime soon. "You know, I thought that maybe common people like you could take a joke. I guess that Daddy was right about poor people! Ehehehehe~."

I simply decided to walk in the other direction, steaming. What an absolute _witch_ of a student! And what was she going on about? Super High-School something…?

I moved on to the next seat… and saw a single eye staring blankly at me through a cascade of black, stringy hair, wearing all white.

"W-WHOA!"

I had to hold on to a railing to stop from falling over- of course, I could see now that I was just looking at some creepy girl, but for a moment there I could have sworn I had seen a ghost. Upon seeing my blanched face, the pale girl turned away, her shoulders heaving. Had I made her upset?

"Oh, um, hi… s-sorry about—"

"… Chizuru… Momochi…" was all she said, in the quietest, most feminine voice imaginable. Yet, still it was enough to cut me off completely. I assumed that was her name.

"O-oh. Good morning then, Momochi-san…"

"Mor-ning… Oichi-san…" she replied. Had she overheard the uncouth conversation between Rin and myself? Grateful for the politeness, but still a little on the disgruntled side, I moved to another array of seats. There, I found a more normal-looking pair of students- a young, dark haired male in a neat, white uniform sitting across from a short-haired brunette girl dressed in a navy-blue blazer.

"Oh. Good morning, I'm Yui Oichi. And you are…?" Much to my content, I was greeted with friendly smiles.

"I'm Rika Komatsu!" the girl replied with a wide grin. "Super High-School Level Artist!" She took my hand, pulling me into a seat next to hers. I just went along with that. The young male spoke up, next.

"My name is Tadashi Masuda. I'm, uh… hope you don't find it too funny, but Super High-School Level Delivery Guy."

I tilted my head to the side. "N-no, uh, not a problem at all. I'm just wondering… this Super High-School Level stuff… what are you all talking about? I mean, I don't have any talents like that… why don't I have one?"

Rika shrugged. "Does it really matter? I'm sure that you got in here for something awesome, if you were asked to be on this train!" she said, giving me a friendly knock in the shoulder.

"H-hey, isn't that more of a boy thing to do? Anyway, nice to meet you two…" I said, smiling a little at Rika's outgoingness. It was nice to meet friendlier people here.

Tadashi poked Rika. "Hey, you two… look outside!"

I peered out through the window of our train, watching the city fly by. The scenery, the parks… they were all so nice-looking from the height we were at! My grin brightened a little.

"So, if there are only a few people on here, does this mean that we're all going to be in the same class?" asked Tadashi. "I hope so. Only a total weirdo like Rika would think a guy getting into some fancy-pants private school for delivering cup noodles was an everyday thing!" he finished with a laugh. I giggled a bit at the proposition. These two were so friendly and outgoing!

"H-hey, I'm not weird!" replied Rika with a weak punch in the shoulder to him. "Hey, we've been here a while. Do you think we'll be there in a minute or two?"

"Mayb—"


	2. Prisoners

_We always assume that we see the world the exact same way that everyone else does. Even as our mind develops and we are able to understand the emotions and intentions of others, it is never quite enough. Have you ever thought about colors? Or spoken to a colorblind person? Try thinking about their vision- their red or blue or green could be completely different. It's impossible to see through another person's eyes… but, trying is what distinguishes the empathetic from the self-absorbed._

…

"… What?"

It was cold. Not to the point of a chilly winter's day, but it was definitely an uncomfortable transition from the lovely spring air to… a clammy building?

I shot up from the ground, upon realizing that I was no longer on the train, and furthermore I felt like I had been sleeping for a rather long time. For a moment, I thought that maybe the entire process- being accepted into the academy, getting on the train, seeing those four students- had all been a vivid dream. But, I wasn't in my soft bed. Nor… was I in a house at all.

I groggily stood up, my vision swimming in swirls of purple and black. As my eyes righted themselves, I checked my surroundings. I was on… a concrete floor. Ouch. How could _anyone_ possibly have gotten sleep there, let alone me? I looked down- still in my school uniform, pink cardigan and all- though, it was a little on the dusty side, now. That train couldn't have been a dream. Looking in front of me, the sight was absolutely unmistakable. Bars… heavy, iron bars, forming a gate with a lock to cage me in. Around me, the walls were made of faded, red brick. Was this… some sort of a_ prison_?

My heart was beginning to race. Why was I here? Who had put me in here? Where was the train? Where was Hope's Peak? I walked over to my cell's gate, doing the first thing that came to my mind.

"_SOMEBODY, GET ME OUT OF HERE_!"

I had screamed… resulting in a loud bang from the other side of my cell's wall.

"Would you _shut your trap_, whoever you are?" came the voice- that of a scratchy, teenage female. "Look, you've been getting your beauty rest this entire time, while we've been trying to figure things out! Now, do any of you ladies have a hairclip or something that can be used to pick a lock?"

There were murmurs, whispers and hisses going on all around me. All of them were female, and all of them came of as just as panicked as I was.

"Y-yeah…" I replied. I still had a bobby pin holding back my bangs from earlier this morning… if this really was the same day, even.

"Well? What'cha waiting for, kiddo? See if you can pick your lock! If you can, get your ass out of there and free the rest of us from these ugly cages!"

"Who… am I speaking to?" I asked the callous voice.

"Hah, the name's Mitsuki Ueda. Super High-School Level Archer. I was the best goddamned shot in the whole school, both among the girls and the guys! I bet I can even do it blindfolded, or in my sleep! Ooh, there was this one time when I…"

Not really bothering to listen to Mitsuki's ramble, I made my way over to the lock, pin in my shaking hand. Looking out, I could see the figures of two people in cells parallel to mine. Upon a closer inspection, I was slowly able to identify them as Rika and Chizuru- two of the girls I had met on the train earlier. Rika had her head hung low, uncharacteristic of the plucky artist that I had met just a short while ago. Meanwhile, Chizuru was staring at me rather intently- getting a better look at her, I could see that she was wearing glasses and a slightly disheveled white uniform with a faded blue, waist-high skirt. It looked like something from an earlier time.

I was confused, to say the least, but decided to focus on the matter and hand, inserting the pin inside of the rust-caked lock and jiggling it around a little to see if anything would come of that. Little to my surprise, the lock wouldn't budge at all. The keyhole looked rather ornate- a very specific key would be needed to open it up.

"You guys… I-I'm really sorry, but I have no idea how to pick a lock." I said. I heard a mildly annoyed groan.

"Of course the little city rat is the only one with no idea how to properly use that kind of thing. I would have you commoners out of here in no time at all, but bobby pins are_ so_ out of style. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those things."

… Unmistakably, that had to be the uppity girl I had met. Her name was Rin, if my memory wasn't failing me. It was now clear that Mitsuki was to my right, and Rin to the left of me.

"Hey, s-stop placing the blame on me! It was all just rotten luck!" I replied, pulling at the cell bars in frustration. "Does anyone have any idea where we are?"

Mitsuki was the next one to speak up. "Yeah. Kind of. We're in some sort of a jail, that's for sure- but I'm pretty sure you've kinda got that all figured out. Anyway, we think it's just us ladies down here- now that we know you're still alive, that makes eight in total."

Eight people? Why eight? There were more than eight people on the train, that was for sure- but then again, a good amount of those people were boys, so if Mitsuki was right, it would make sense that they might be somewhere in here as well. I began to pinpoint a few voices.

"Where are we? We were on the bullet train one moment, but we must have passed out… what could have done that?!"

"Are we dead? Is this hell?"

"My cell phone has no reception at all… I wonder if my boyfriend has any idea what's happened to me…"

"This cell has no toilet! I don't want to have to pee on the floor! That would be nasty!"

The whines and whimpers continued, with even Rika shaking the bars to her cell's gate. "Let me out! Whoever is in control of this place, please let me out!" I heard her wails. "Mom! Dad! Big bro!"

I shrunk back a bit into my cell. I was incredibly scared and alone at that moment- even with all of those people there, it didn't matter. In fact, I felt like my own words during that time were just swept away in the river of moans and crying. Upset by this, and by the negative emotions of everyone else, I decided to steel my courage and speak up.

"Everyone, we can't just sit around crying and whining about what might happen to us. We need… to be able to find a proper way out of this situation!"

"Oi, Pipsqueak over there has a point. Get your heads together, ladies." Mitsuki agreed. With her more powerful voice in the mix, the cries calmed down. When everything got quiet… I could hear the little mouse voice of Chizuru piping up.

"You… all of you… do you hear him?" she asked us collectively. We all went silent, listening for the "him" that Chizuru Momochi had apparently heard.

And, sure enough… there was the faint voice of a child. No… not quite that at all. It was the muffled shouts of a voice that had a vague resemblance to that of a kid's… but something was definitely off. Something was horribly wrong.

"_Open… the gates!"_ were the three words that I could make out from the distorted voice.

Our locks immediately popped open, despite no key having been inserted.

"Voice activation? On_ these_ things? Is this all some kind of joke?! As in, one of those ridiculous prank shows on television?"

"I really hope so… I just want to go home!"

I was the first to open my cell. Peering out, we were inside a dark, dirty hallway. I was surrounded by other girls within moments. Mitsuki, the girl who had been in the adjacent jail cell, was a girl with black, bob-cut hair and dark eyes. Despite her old-fashioned uniform, skirt below the knees and everything, she looked like someone that no one would ever want to mess with. She was tall and lanky, at least 5'8" or something, and had a confident air about her that seemed nigh unbreakable. I would have taken a look at the other females, but I was swept away in a wave of skirts and shoes, just kind of being dragged along to the area where the voice came from. As we walked along, the corridor seemed to get a bit less dusty, and there were now lights up on the ceiling. Most of them were flickering, but it was still something, nevertheless.

"Hey, everyone, we should j-just think about this for a second, I…"

But, my voice was drowned out. As more lights came on up ahead, the group began to move faster… speedwalking at first, then kind of halfheartedly jogging, but once they saw the pure white glimmer at the end of the tunnel, it turned into an all-out scramble to reach the light first.

We were already turning into a pack of animals. Motivated by daylight alone. Anything new was good, for the time being.

In a sprint, a girl with her blonde hair in a long braid and wearing baggy pants looked like she would reach the "finish line" first.

"Hey, Mei, wait up!" said Rika- she was smiling again. Were the two of them friends?

As we reached the lit area, we realized that the shine was coming from a stairwell… the group was about to clamor up the stairs, before Mei and Rika, and soon all the rest of us… had crashed into another group of people.

"W-whoa, Rika-san? Yui-san?!"

Tadashi! It was him, from back on the train! Plus… like, six or seven other boys. He was still wearing his baseball cap, which made it easy to recognize him first.

"Masuda-san…? What in the world is going on?"

"We were locked up in these little jail cells, but they all just kind of opened up a moment ago!"

"The exact same thing happened to us!" said Rika. She gave Tadashi a relieved hug- the two seemed like they had been best friends for a lifetime.

Rika then turned to me. "Yui-chan? Are you okay, after all that? You slept for a long time after everyone else woke up."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I'm fine. Let's head up…"

Realizing that we three were the only people left down here in the cell… we rushed upstairs, I myself going two steps at a time.

…

Upon reaching the upstairs floor… we looked around. As Rika, the last person to go upstairs, had come out, the floor closed up underneath us. We… were in a lobby or foyer of some sort. A manor…? Whispers and worried voices grew in number once again because of our new surroundings.

A silver-haired boy dressed in a black tux decided to move over to the center of the huge room.

"H-hey! That guy looks familiar!"

"Familiar? That's Ikki Shirogane! Didn't you see 'White Papillon'? He played the male lead!" said the girl named Mei. She had a bit of an accent… was she perhaps from China? Meanwhile, Ikki looked smooth as silk in his entire appearance- probably wearing makeup or something of the sort. He sure was pretty.

"Yeah, he's totally popular where I live! I was one of his groupies!" said another girl, this one having her reddish-brown hair in flowing twintails down to her back.

Shirogane cleared his throat, speaking up.

"Ahem. Everyone… before we try and find a way out of this situation, we should just calm down and relax for a couple minutes. Introduce ourselves to one another. We can't just tear through this like stray dogs looking for food." he said. "I'll start. My name is Ikki Shirogane, as you may know. SHSL Actor."

He looked to Mei.

"Ah? Me? My name… i-it's Mei Aizawa… I'm the SHSL… Acrobat." she said, obviously shy about talking in front of her celebrity crush. "I'm… r-really good at martial arts and contortionism… and…"

She was cut off by… the child's voice.

"Hello! Hi! Nice to see you all!" … Something was wrong. A disturbing, deadly wrong that sent a wary shiver down my back. The voice… dripped with a sort of sardonic acid, just hearing it felt wrong. It was like something out of a bad cartoon. "Glad to see you all acquainting and getting all buddy-buddy with one another… but boy, do I have something different in mind for you guys!"


End file.
